The title of this post is a bit misleading, I admit. Because truthfully, the bulk of what I’ve been into lately involves not very exciting things like nursing nonstop (so sitting in a chair, then?), thinking of things to eat that can be prepared and shoved into my face with one hand (which evidently doesn’t leave much time for the baking or taking pictures of food), and trying to find time to pee alone. But what I really wanted to do was pop in today, say hello! and we’re still all alive! and sometimes even bathed!, and share a few things that have made my days a little brighter while careening through the Newborn Tunnel of (Sometimes) Hell.

I’ve managed to get back on track with exercise, which has been key in maintaining my sanity. In an unexplained bout of inspiration (and a longing to get back into my regular clothes), two weeks ago I decided to take up running again after nearly a year. To be kind to my post-pregnancy joints and bones, I’ve decided to take it allll the way back to 2003 when I first started running, and ease back into a running routine with the Couch to 5k program. Of course now, instead of obsessively glancing at a watch to track intervals while listening to the very first Maroon 5 album on a CD walkman, there are fancy things like this Couch to 5k app that does all the thinking for you, and features voice cues that gently interrupt your iPhone’s playlist to tell you when to run and when to walk. Awesome. I love technology when it’s idiot-proof.

I ordered this book recently and have bookmarked the bananas out of it. I’ve got mad kitchen plans, believe you me.

I’ve been making this recipe for dinner probably once a week since the baby was born. Add some broccoli and instant brown rice (cooked with chicken or veg stock instead of water), and BOOM. Ultimate easy-yet-satisfying meal. So simple, cheap, kind of old school, kid-friendly, and unreal delicious. And good for two night’s worth of dinners–hallelujah!

We also got a few awesome meals out of this fantastic take on Spanikopita from one of my favorite people, The Wednesday Chef. No better way to get your greens, people. Just add wine.

In the “I’ve made them 100 times, but never blogged about them” category, here are some of the world’s best cookies. In fact, I have a Ziploc full of these frozen cookie dough balls in my freezer right now. It’s how I’ve been keeping my family in freshly baked cookies all these weeks like some kind of deranged June Cleaver.

I haven’t bought any new clothes just yet, but when I do, I’m using this resource. The concept gives me a major case of “Why didn’t I think of that?!”. I’m getting all into it within the next couple months, which is to say when I get a bit more weight off of my maternal midsection.

Okay, so, I lied on that last point. I have purchased these flip flops in Light Gold, which add a little bit of something special to my Dreary Mom Outfits.

To further celebrate the fact that I’m no longer retaining water and my feet have stopped looking like Shrek’s, I got a glorious pedicure with this nail color, which is always my Happy Color. It makes me feel more together even when I’m in pajamas. I have decided that it’s my Forever Toenail Polish. I’ll be working it into my will.

Unlike my strategy with my first child, I’ve had this new kid on the move and out in the world since day 4. It’s saved my sanity. But it’s a bonus when the days involve more than marathon trips to Target. Like lunch at the perfect restaurant with an amazing friend, and making it a double with a dessert pitstop at one of San Francisco’s best bakeries. Now that’s a good day, even if you’ve got a sweaty baby strapped to your chest.

Add to that an actual, in-person meeting (at a new-ish, and completely perfect SF bakery) with a heretofore strictly online friend, during which you find out that she’s as fabulous as you’d hoped, and every bit as lovely as her website. Again with aforementioned baby strapped to chest, but a magical meeting nonetheless. Big ups for real people in an unreal world.

Just to give you an idea of what my personal fitness regimen is like these days:

Today I took one of my first post-pregnancy walks (beyond wandering aimlessly around the grocery store, trying to remember what I’m there for besides milk and coffee beans). Rounding a corner, I saw a woman running at a good clip, looking confident and fit. I flashed her the thumbs up. Not for her form, or fly Lululemon ensemble, mind you. No, the first thought I had when I saw that chick running was, “Dang, I wish I had a pelvic floor like that.”

True story.

So at three weeks after birth, we’re dealing in small moves to get back into shape over here, inside and out, in both the exercise and nutrition departments. While I didn’t go all J.Simps on my pregnancy weight gain, nothing can really prepare you for, um, the state of things after you give birth. Let’s just say I won’t be doing a post-baby HOW I GOT THIN! photo session for US Weekly at six weeks post-partum. Getting back into a routine takes time in the real world. I’m trying to be patient with myself about that bit, even though I’m dying to get back into my non-stretchy clothes. And getting a few easy baking recipes into the arsenal that also happen to be what I call Halfsies Healthy really helps things along.

Halfsies Healthy baked goods are about great flavors and textures and keeping things totally craveworthy, while still packing in some nutrients along the way. I actually developed the recipe for this quickbread a couple months back and have made it several times since, but somehow kept forgetting to tell you about it until right now. It’s got half regular flour, half whole wheat flour, a lot of unsweetened applesauce and a small amount of oil, and not too much sugar (I’m betting you could even swap out the brown and white sugars for raw turbinado or evaporated cane juice if you were so inclined–quickbreads are so flexible like that).

I’m especially loving this recipe in my Nursing Mom state because it’s hearty and tastes fabulous, and it’s great for an easy breakfast or snack. It also  happens to be the perfect cram-something-in-your-quickbread-hole-fast-before-the baby-starts-crying-again sort of thing. And it’s the perfect recipe to double and gift to people who are in a state where they could really use some love-filled, homemade sustenance. Trust me on this. Having a loaf of this on the countertop and a second loaf in the freezer for emergencies brings the kind of comfort that comes second only to being able to trust that your pelvic floor won’t let you down on a jog.

This is my life now, people. I’m just putting it all out there for you.

 Apple, Walnut & Raisin Quickbread

Makes 1 9×5-inch loaf

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon (I love Vietnamese cinnamon, which adds extra spice and color)
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 large egg
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup buttermilk, yogurt, or sour cream
1 cup peeled, chopped apple (about 1 large, cut into 1/4-inch dice)
1/3 cup chopped walnuts
1/3 cup raisins

Position a rack to the lower third of the oven and preheat it to 350°F. Spray a 9×5-inch loaf pan with nonstick spray and line it with parchment paper, lightly spraying the parchment, too (I like to have the parchment stick up a couple inches like a little “collar” on the two long sides of the pan to encourage the bread to rise nice and high).

In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, sugars, baking soda, and salt.

In a medium bowl or large measuring cup, whisk together the applesauce, egg, oil, and buttermilk (or yogurt or sour cream) until smooth. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet mixture. Stir to blend, being careful not to overmix. Stir in the chopped apple, walnuts, and raisins.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top evenly. Sprinkle with turbinado sugar. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean, about 70 to 80 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking time. Let cool completely in the pan on a wire rack before removing the bread from the pan and slicing. Store tightly wrapped at room temperature for up to five days.

Well, hello! You’ll never guess what I’ve been up to over the past couple weeks. Okay, I’ll just tell you. That baby boy? The Inside Baby that was making me huger and more miserable by the minute? He finally decided to make his entrance into this crazy world two weeks ago and it turns out he’s been making up for giving me a massive ongoing case of heartburn for the past nine months and a myriad of other aches and pains by being an absolute Superstar Outside Baby. Nursing well, even sleeping well, he is the stuff of newborn dreams, I’m telling you. I will be sure to share more stories and photos as the weeks go on and we get into a groove around here.

But in the meantime, I wanted to take a quick minute to share some tips with you about a recipe from Pure Vanilla. Turns out, at the exact moment Sir Baby was making his entrance, the fabulous folks at USA Weekend published a lovely piece on the cookbook and the recipe for Creamy Vanilla Rice Pudding. And as a bit of press in a national publication is wont to do, it’s garnered some attention and filled my inbox with e-mails from enthusiastic home cooks: some raves about the recipe (thank you, I love you, too!), some polite questions about substitutions and technique (many thanks to you, too, for wording your thoughts so nicely), and, of course,  a couple standout notes from a few people for whom the world has seemingly ended due to their pudding not setting (oh, Internet, you vex me so).

At any rate, all the correspondence left me with me with a serious case of rice pudding on the brain (related: having a newborn also gives you a serious case of Rice Pudding Brain–coincidence?). So I gave into the craving and whipped up a batch the other day (you know, for quality control), and while working through the recipe, I realized that to the inexperienced, a traditional, eggless rice pudding recipe like the one in Pure Vanilla can be tricky to master, and we all know what I stickler I am for giving you clear, concise recipes that work. So in the interest of always being Your Kitchen Pal, I thought I’d lay out a few tips to lead you to rice pudding success, and point out a couple things that are listed in the recipe, but might benefit from further emphasis or clarification.

First, the amounts listed in the recipe are correct–6 cups whole milk to 2/3 cup medium grain rice. As crazy as that ratio seems, it’s pretty typical of traditional rice puddings made with medium grain rice. I don’t recommend low-fat milk, which will make for a thin, watery, less flavorful pudding.  Also, the importance of using a rice specifically labeled medium grain rice cannot be overstated. Regular white long grain rice will not work here. It doesn’t have enough starch in it to thicken and set the pudding. Medium grain rice can be a challenge to find in some places, but most well-stocked grocery stores should carry it. If it’s not by all the other rice, check the ethnic foods section–medium grain rice is used a lot in Spanish cuisine.  It’s starch content is somewhere between a long grain rice (not enough starch) and short-grained risotto or arborio rice (very starchy, can make for a gummy finished pudding).

Second, keeping the pudding at a simmer during the entire cooking time is crucial–you’re looking to mostly cook the rice during the first 15 minutes while the pot is covered, and then reduce the liquid a bit during the second half of the cooking time with the lid off. Depending on your stove, you may need to play with the heat to make this happen. If the pudding stops simmering at any point, you’ll need to raise the heat to keep things bubbling, stirring often as indicated in the recipe to encourage the rice to release its starch once the pot is uncovered. This usually takes about 15 minutes, but it may take a couple minutes more depending on your stove and the pot you’re using. Just keep an eye on the consistency–it will be slightly thickened and the rice will be very tender when it’s done. It will appear a bit soupy when its still hot–this all will change when the pudding is chilled.

The last point in the recipe that I thought might possibly be tripping people up is the size of the pot used to cook the pudding. The recipe calls for a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan. Even though you’re dealing with 6 cups of milk, which can technically fit into a 2 quart-ish, medium saucepan, you need a bigger pot than that  (3 to 4 quarts-plus) to make sure you’re working with enough surface area to encourage the mixture to reduce and thicken in the time noted in the recipe. A too-small pot calls for more cooking time to get to the visibly thickened consistency you’re after before chilling the pudding.

I hope some of these tips clear up any questions and/or issues that may have popped up with this particular recipe. Feel free to add further questions in the comment section! I’m here for you, people.

And now back to baby nibbling.

Creamy Vanilla Rice Pudding
from Pure Vanilla

Makes about 4 cups

Note that this recipe calls for medium-grain white rice, not long or short-grained Arborio rice. Medium-grain rice lends the perfect amount of starch, creaminess and texture to the finished pudding.

To transform this recipe into Warm Vanilla-Rum Rice Pudding: Add a warm, boozy glow to the whole thing by whisking in two large egg yolks to thicken it without chilling, and add a shot of dark rum during the last five minutes of cooking time.

6 cups whole milk
2/3 cup medium grain white rice
1/3 cup granulated sugar (you can add a couple more tablespoons to sweeten to your taste, if you like)
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise, caviar scraped
3/4 teaspoon salt

In a large, heavy-bottomed pot, combine the milk, rice, sugar, vanilla pod and caviar, and salt. Stir gently over medium heat, until the mixture reaches a simmer. Cover the pot and reduce the heat to low. Simmer for 15 minutes. Uncover the pot and continue to cook the pudding, stirring often, until the rice is very tender and the pudding has thickened slightly, about 15 minutes more. Remove the pan from the heat and let cool for 5 minutes before fishing out the vanilla pod and transferring the pudding to a heatproof bowl. Chill in the refrigerator until cold and thick, at least 4 hours, or up to overnight.

So do you ever get sort of obsessed with a certain website, enchanted by how it just ‘gets you’? And you find yourself wholly relating to every post and wanting to invent a device that would allow you to sort of live inside said website? Well, that’s me and Camille Styles’ lovely online digs. Love the content–the interviews, the recipes, the decor ideas, the whole lot. It may sometimes make me feel like I’m living in the slums because it’s so fabulous, but hey, that’s the risk you take falling in love with a website, I guess.

I’ve shared a few recipes with Camille’s audience in the past, and the other day I helped her kick off her sure-to-be-swoon-worthy Valentine’s Day content with a sweet idea for an edible gift. Bounce on over to Camille’s site for more photos and the recipe, a modern, Frenchy twist on the kitschy Valentine’s Day combo of chocolate-covered cherries.

Get the recipe >>

Well. THAT hiatus lasted a little longer than I’d intended. Let’s just say that the holidays plus my website kind of going haywire for a bit plus entering my third trimester made for a perfect storm of procrastination. That’s not to say that I haven’t been occupied around here, because when I’ve not been busy pounding Tums from a gallon-sized container while wearing compression socks, I have indeed been writing and cooking and baking, and would you believe that much of it has been of Whole Grain and Greens sort? I know, it’s kind of disappointing–I thought that my sweet tooth might rage again like it did at the end of my first pregnancy, but after a gestational diabetes scare and a general “meh” feeling towards sweets lately, I’m not taking down pounds of Twizzlers at this stage in the game like I did with Little C. (Although, full disclosure, I did eat two spoonfuls of confectioners’ sugar the other day in a fit of “I want something intensely sweet and starchy and oh! Maybe with a hint of chalk”, and it was the best thing ever–Pregnant Lady Bizarro Cravings, I salute you).

So what else have I been doing lately, aside from shoveling powdered sugar into my face straight from the box? Well, bracing for Baby 2.0 big time, for one thing. I’ve been to Ikea and Target about 27 times each in the past two months. I’m not sure how it is for other second time moms, but this time around, I’m focusing on preparing the barracks in such a way that might seem completely trivial from the outset, but as any husband who has lived with a crazy post-partum wife will tell you, sometimes it’s the little things that make all the difference, and those little things are often completely unrelated to the actual baby that’s been birthed.

For example, I’ve totally cleaned out my makeup bag, tossed the old and upgraded to some new stuff better suited to where my face and my life are at now. I’m not saying I’m going to be going out like RuPaul to the playground, but it feels good to know that I’ve already reworked a little daily beauty routine that will take me five minutes to complete and soften the blow of looking in the mirror when I haven’t slept a full night in many, many months. Did I ever tell you that in my former life I was a makeup artist for Bobbi Brown? Well, I was. And I used travel around giving all kinds of perky makeup advice to women so! much! older! than me, like oh, say, THE AGE I AM NOW,  HA HA HA.

(Now that I think about it, that advice was probably super annoying to receive from the well-rested, unlined faced of a 23-year-old and I kind of feel bad about that. If you were a Midwestern soccer mom in the early aughts who visited with me at a high-end department store, I am so, so sorry about that.)

But there were some good tips in there that I’ve been reminding myself of–like investing in a good eye cream and serum, and reconsidering your foundation and concealer formulas as your skin changes. During this recent beauty routine overhaul, I’ve also rediscovered the power of a good foundation brush (the ultimate trick in using less makeup and yet somehow getting a better overall look in less time than using a sponge or your fingers), and a certain eye pencil that goes on like a dream but doesn’t smudge a bit and doesn’t require a separate brush (and therefore a few time-sucking steps) like my usual Holy Grail eyeliner. Like I said, it’s the little things, people. The little things that keep you from going over the edge when you’re strapped to a rocking chair, careening through Newborn Town.

But of course there’s the more conventional (and far less vain) baby-readiness activities to consider, and I’m doing all that, too. Putting together baby furniture, endless loads of laundry so we can use clothes and gear that have been stored for four-plus years, and figuring out what the heck we’re going to eat once this crazy baby comes bounding into the world. I suppose for people who really have their acts together, that might translate to freezer meals and collecting slow cooker recipes, and I hope to get to a little of that in the next couple weeks, but as any post-partum lady will attest, particularly one that decides to nurse, a frozen lasagna’s got nothing on a stash of good snacks. This time I’m going to be snack-fortified, stocked with things that are easy to eat with one hand, mostly healthy, but with a little something special to brighten the long days (and nights) with a new baby.

This granola is a most excellent recipe, one that is ripe for the riffing. It’s based on the Honey Vanilla Granola Clusters from Pure Vanilla, but made extra dreamy, all lemon-scented with a smattering of dried blueberries (one of my favorite flavor combinations ever, ever, ever). And if you’re feeling extra deserving of some sweet comfort (and you don’t need to have grown a person inside you to deserve that), a couple handfuls of white chocolate chips transforms a perfectly suitable breakfast food into the perfect late afternoon pick-me-up, right about the time that you feel like the world will probably collapse at any second. I mean, it’s not as fun as a new eyeliner, but it’s a lot more delicious.

Lemon, Blueberry, and White Chocolate Granola
Makes 4-5 cups

The egg whites here make for a super crunchy finished granola. And if you like some nice, big clusters in your granola, spread it out too thinly on the pan, and let it cool completely in one big mass on the baking sheet after you pull it from the oven.

Add a bit of nuttiness with 1/2 cup sliced almonds stirred in during the last 5 minutes of baking.

1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
2 large egg whites, at room temperature
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 tablespoons mild clover honey
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1/3 cup dried blueberries
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Position a rack to the center of the oven and preheat it to 325°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.

In a large bowl, place the brown sugar and lemon zest. Use your fingertips to massage the zest into the sugar until very fragrant. Whisk in the egg whites, vegetable oil, honey, vanilla extract, and salt until smooth. Add the oats and stir to coat evenly. Spread the granola onto the prepared sheet pan in an even layer.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden and fragrant, stirring once or twice and rotating the pan halfway through baking to prevent burning. Let cool completely in the pan on a wire rack. Stir in dried blueberries and white chocolate chips. Store in an airtight container.

It’s a chilly, dreary, rainy day here in San Francisco (the California way of ushering in winter).

I’m getting more pregnant by the minute (now firmly in my third trimester, and by the looks of yesterday’s ultrasound, all is good with Sir Baby, thank you).

I have also been hit with some ungodly cold-ish virus that I know I caught from Little C, who was sick earlier this week (so dirty, little kids, I tell ya).

I’ve just dropped my precious offspring off at school for the last time this year, and am now back in bed, surrounded by pillows and tissues and hot water, which seems to be the only freaking thing with which they let sick pregnant people medicate other than the occasional Tylenol, which is a liar and a complete joke when what I really need is, like, 12 DayQuil capsules and a nebulizer full of Xanax to quell my holiday to-do list anxiety.

But! Despite all this doom and gloom and wahhhh, my life is so harrrrd…, yesterday was glorious. Glorious, I say! We were a fine-tuned baking operation, me and Little C, cranking out cookies, brownies, and an extra special holiday confection to add to the tins of goodies we assembled for her teachers. These Candy Cane Nougat Bites are sweet, minty, melt-in-your-mouth pillows of heaven and I encourage you to try making them as your One Last Thing to do before Christmas, which I’m sure you don’t have enough of already, right?

Back in the day, when I was a young, precocious thing growing up in the Chicago suburbs, I lived within minutes of lots of extended family, a concept which seems so foreign now, having been on the West Coast for almost 10 years, and now having a child who usually only sees cousins and aunts and uncles via Skype. Anyway, as a kid I spent a lot of time at my Gramma’s house (she of epic sugar cookies and the passer-on of the world’s best pound cake). Gramma lives in a snazzy condo these days, but I still have dreams that I’m in that old house, poking around. It was always a place of fun and warmth, but around the holidays, things got crazy festive, an explosion of Christmas decor lining the walls, little red velvet bows adorning framed photos, and crystal-cut bowls of candy tucked here and there, most reachable by even the shortest grandchild.

In the front room of the house, the living room, the one you walked right into upon entering the front door, there was a (pretty tacky, I guess) gold gilded full-length mirror with a low ledge that held a few knickknacks. But at Christmastime, there was also a candy dish set on the ledge, the one that was filled with Brach’s Peppermint Nougats. Soft, with a hearty chew, resembling those little hard, round peppermint candies with their border of red and white stripes, but with a tooth-staining deep green Christmas tree right in the center. I freaking loved those peppermint nougats. They’re not quite as easy to find here in California as they are in the Midwest, but when I do find them, I tend to hoard them.

This year, I decided to translate that idea into something a touch more elegant, even softer in texture, a dreamier version of those peppermint nougats of Christmases past. And dress them up further with a drizzle of bittersweet chocolate, because…chocolate.

This recipe is a riff on one from Pure Vanilla–Vanilla Nougat Candy Bar Bites, my ode to those of us who like to gnaw at candy bars in stages; first the chocolate, then the caramel and nuts, leaving a perfect slab of unadorned, creamy, chewy, fluffy nougat for the savoring. If you’re familiar with the Southern confection called divinity, then you’re on the right track to understanding the process here: a combination of beaten egg whites and hot sugar syrup, whipped until thick and cloud-like. The difference between divinity and nougat, however, is one small but crucial detail–heating the syrup to two different temperatures and adding them in stages to the meringue. What-what? Let me explain.

Once the egg whites are beaten to soft/medium peaks and your sugar syrup is cooked to soft-ball stage, you drizzle in half the syrup, beating all the while to create a glossy, stable meringue. Return the pot of syrup to the stove, boiling the remainder just a minute or so more to a soft crack stage. The first syrup addition gives lift and structure to the candy, and the second, hotter addition is what will dry the mixture and give the candy its craveworthy texture–airy, creamy with the vaguest hint of chew, before melting on the tongue. A drizzle of chocolate that sets to a snap and a smattering of crushed candy canes add even more flavor and crunch. I can’t be contained, people. So, so good.

All tippy techniques and goofy foodie adjectives aside, what you have here is something that’s perfect with after dinner coffee or tucking into gifty cookie tins to add a little extra fancy. An equal opportunity Holiday Joy Inducer. And  something that every single one of you deserves this year. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday celebration, wherever you are, and I thank you for visiting this space and just being you. I’ll see you again back here real soon.

Candy Cane Nougat Bites
Adapted from Pure Vanilla

This holiday version of these nougat bites are irresistible, but without the crushed candy cane bits added, what you’ve got is a perfect canvas for creative confectionery endeavors. Flavor it however you like with different extracts or candy oils, fold in dried fruits and nuts for a riff on the classic Italian torrone, or use it as inspiration for your own homemade candy bars.

Aim for a dry day to make this or any kind of candy, really. High humidity or rain will kep the candy from drying and setting properly.

I highly recommend a stand mixer for this recipe–the candy becomes so thick and heavy towards the end of the beating time that your average handheld mixer might blow up under the stress. 

If the egg whites reach soft peaks before the syrup reaches 238°F, stop the mixer—you want the whipped whites to be ready and waiting for the syrup, not the other way around. 

Even with their minty bite and counterpoint of bittersweet chocolate, these little gems are SWEET. I cut my nougat slab into bite-size pieces, about 1-inch squares, and no bigger than 1 1/2 inches.

Makes 18-20 pieces

2 large egg whites, at room temperature
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate (60 to 70% cacao), melted
1/3 cup crushed peppermint candy cane bits (about 4 large canes, or 15-16 minis). divided

Lightly spray an 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray and use a paper towel to wipe away any excess. Line it with parchment paper and lightly spray the parchment, too, again wiping lightly with a paper towel.

In a medium heavy-bottomed sauce pan over medium-high heat, stir together the sugar, water, corn syrup and salt. Boil until the syrup reaches 238°F.

Meanwhile, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites on medium speed to medium peaks, about 2 minutes. With the mixer running on medium speed, slowly pour just half the syrup into the egg whites, beginning with just a tablespoon or two to warm up the whites before you pour in more to avoid scrambling the egg whites. (Aim for the space between the beater and the bowl, even letting the syrup run down the side of bowl a bit into the whites, to avoid having the syrup spin all over the sides of the bowl.) Beat until thickened, like marshmallow cream. Beat in the vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste. Stop the mixer.

Set the pan back over medium-high heat and bring it back up to a boil. When the second half of the syrup reaches 275°F, set the mixer back on medium speed and slowly pour in the remaining syrup. Raise the mixer speed to high and beat until the nougat is very thick and heavy, begins to lose its gloss, and the bowl is mostly cool except for the very bottom, 10 to 12 minutes (stop the mixer every four to five minutes to scrape down the bowl). Stir in 1/4 cup of the candy cane bits by hand.

Scrape the nougat into the prepared pan and spread it into place. Let set at room temperature until completely cool and firm, about 2 hours.
Invert the candy slab out onto a cutting surface and remove the parchment, so that the sticky side is facing up (the side that was exposed to the air while setting should be dry and not sticky when touched). Cut the slab into small squares.

Line a baking sheet with a clean sheet of parchment paper. Place the nougat squares sticky side up on the sheet. Pour the melted chocolate into a small zip top bag, and Use scissors to snip a small hole in the corner of the bag. Drizzle a bit of chocolate over each square. Sprinkle each nougat square with the reserved crushed candy cane bits. Let the chocolate set before serving. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

While I hesitate to call it an all-out phobia, I will say that my, um, reticent nature towards baking with yeast has been well-documented in the past. I know I’m not the only one out there who suffers from this fear, and let’s face it–yeast is a funny thing. I mean, it’s ALIVE, for cry-yi. Unpredictable, with a mind of its own! And how do you choose the right type of yeast? What if you only have active dry and the recipe calls for instant? How can you really know for sure if the dough has doubled? The world could explode with such Oprah-esque Life Questions.

Well. Recently I’ve tried to tackle that fear for good, experimenting with different breads, rolls, even cakes that use yeast as their puffing (and flavor) agent. I’ve been inching closer to becoming One With the Yeast. Baby steps.

Not too long ago, the good people at Fleischmann’s contacted me about checking out their online resources to help quell the anxiety of yeast-fearing baking enthusiasts like myself, and lo, I was calmed by the clarity of the information on their Become a Better Baker website, and the accompanying how-to videos that focus on yeast-raised goods. There’s even a specific video for yeast equivalents! Hallelujah!

They also pointed me to the hundreds of recipes in their Bread World recipe index, and with holiday brunch season upon us, my pregnancy cravings went haywire when I spotted an orange-infused cinnamon roll recipe. This is the kind of twist on a classic that is so completely perfect right now–we want comfort food, we want familiar things, but a little zip of citrus in baked goods always manages to take the whole thing to a different craveworthy level. Sold.

So about the yeast in this particular recipe: It calls for Fleischmann’s® RapidRise Yeast, which is an instant yeast, something I’ve been hearing a lot about lately from such Big Deal Culinary Sources like America’s Test Kitchen, which often recommends instant yeast in its yeast-raised recipes. What’s great about it is that this kind of yeast eliminates a few recipe steps that can often trip up a yeast-fearing baker. I mean, you do have to work with it in a yeasty manner, and there is some kneading involved, but with its dump-and-stir-friendly qualities, instant yeast works a little like baking powder in a recipe, simplifies the breadmaking process, and needs very little babysitting, which we’re all cool with, right?

Once you get past the mixing of the dough and a quick rest, everything else here comes together in the most fabulously simple way. Roll out the dough into a nice, neat rectangle (using a ruler to guide you, just one tip I picked up from Become a Better Baker”s video on cinnamon roll how-to’s–and the bit about using dental floss to cleanly cut the rolls? What, what?!). The filling is little more than sugar, orange zest, cinnamon, and butter, so COME ON, right?

These sweet, spicy, citrusy rolls are the world’s most fabulous holiday kitchen project–the prep work is fun, and they can totally be made a day ahead and baked off first thing the next morning. Christmas in a pan, I’m telling you.

Orange-Scented Cinnamon Rolls
Adapted from Breadworld.com

A few tips to make life easier:

-Read the recipe a couple times before you begin to wrap your brain around the process, and the time required for each step.

-If you have a thermometer, use it to gage how hot your liquid is before you add it to the yeast. You want it nice and warm, like a soothing bath, but not hot to the touch.

-Measure all 6 cups of flour into a large bowl, and scoop your flour out of there as you work–you may or may not need all 6 cups (I did).

-Once the dough was mixed, I switched to the dough hook on my mixer instead of kneading by hand because I am pregnant and exhausted. I found on low speed, I still needed about 9-10 minutes of kneading with the dough hook to get a soft, elastic, supple dough, though your mileage may vary.

-Use a ruler while you’re rolling out your dough rectangle to get it as close to a 10×20-inch piece as you can. This helps you end up with the right size and amount of rolls, taking any guesswork out of the baking time and knowing when the rolls are baked through.

-If you start to roll the rectangle and the dough is bouncing back on you, cover the dough with a towel and give it 10-15 more minutes to relax before starting again–my dough needed this extra rest time.

-I opted to halve this recipe, making 12 rolls, and baked them in a 9×13-inch baking dish. But! I kept the amount of glaze the same, as I am a freak about glazey things. The amount listed below are from the original recipe, so you can scale the amount of glaze up or down as you like.

-Double glazed or not, these puppies are indeed sweet, so if you’re planning a brunch or buffet situation, one roll per person is plenty.

Makes 20-24 rolls

For the dough:
5-1 / 2 to 6 cups all-purpose flour
1 / 2 cup granulated sugar
2 envelopes Fleischmann’s® RapidRise Yeast
1-1 / 2 teaspoons salt
1-1 / 4 cups water
1 / 2 cup milk (lowfat is okay)
1 / 3 cup (about 5 tablespoons) unsalted butter
2 large eggs, at room temperature

For the filling:
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 tablespoons grated orange zest
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon (I like Vietnamese cinnamon)
Pinch of salt

For the glaze:
1 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 to 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine 2 cups flour, sugar, undissolved yeast, and salt. Stir on low speed to combine, about 1 minute.

In a heatproof measuring cup, combine the water, milk, and butter. Heat in the microwave on high power until warm (120o to 130oF), about 30-40 seconds (a thermometer is a good idea here to make sure your liquid isn’t so hot that it will kill the yeast, or too cool to keep it from activating). With the mixer still on low speed, gradually add the liquid to flour mixture. Increase the speed to medium and beat for 2 minute, scraping the bowl occasionally. Add the eggs and 1 cup flour; beat 2 minutes at high speed. Stir in enough remaining flour to make a soft dough. Knead on lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 minutes (or switch to the mixer’s dough hook and knead on low speed). Cover; let rest 10 minutes.

Butter a large rimmed baking sheet, or spray with nonstick cooking spray.

Divide the dough in half. Roll each half to 20 x 10-inch rectangle. Brush all over with melted butter.

In a small bowl, massage the orange zest into the sugar with your fingertips until the sugar is fragrant and looks moist. Add the cinnamon and salt and stir to blend well. Sprinkle the filling evenly over the dough. Beginning from one of the short sides of the dough closest to you, roll the dough tightly into a log, pinching the seam tightly to seal. With a long, thin, sharp knife, cut each log into 1-inch slices, or about 10-12 pieces. Arrange the rolls snugly, cut sides up, on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat the process with the second half of the dough. Cover the rolls with a clean towel and let rise in warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 1 hour. (Alternatively, cover the pan tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate the rolls overnight. Let rise and come to room temperature for 30 minutes before baking.)

When you’re ready to bake, arrange a rack to the center of the oven and preheat it to 375 degrees. Bake the rolls until they are puffed and browned, rotating the pan halfway through baking, about 25 to 30 minutes.

While the rolls are baking, make the glaze. Whisk together the confectioners’ sugar, orange juice, vanilla extract and salt until smooth. Slather generously over the hot rolls just as they come out of the oven. Although these rolls are best eaten fresh from the oven, any leftovers will keep tightly wrapped at room temperature for about a day, and benefit from a quick zap in the microwave before eating.

Special thanks to Fleischmann’s for providing the inspiration for this post. This is a sponsored post and I did receive compensation to write it. However, all of the thoughts and opinions written above are my own.

Let’s get down to it, friends. What are your Cookie Tin Contenders this year? Are you sticking to the classics? Going on on a limb with all new recipes? A little mix of both? For me, it’s about the third category, excitedly baking up those treats that make their appearance just once per year, and adding a few new selections for sport (read: satisfy rabid Pregnant Lady Cravings).

The other night I had my last scheduled book event for the year at the fabulous Omnivore Books here in San Francisco, and got to talking to a friend and fellow blogger about an old recipe from this site’s archives that she’d riffed on in the most delightful way (tahini was involved–genius!). Fast forward to 10 a.m. the next morning, and clearly, something baked and peanut buttery was in order (it doesn’t take much suggestion to get me set on an idea, food-related or otherwise, in my delicate condition).

But I wanted more than just a great peanut butter cookie with a sweet little crosshatch on top. I wanted something more like a blondie, with heft and nubbiness, texture and chew, hints of brown sugar and caramel and a solid hit of salt. These days, I also want to stop retaining water at levels that might alarm the Coast Guard, a full night’s sleep free of leg cramps and acid reflux, comfortable pants that can go from bed to street to couch and back to bed again, and the power to control time. So I figured the least I could do for myself was develop the peanut butter blondie of my dreams, and hopefully give you a great Cookie Tin Contender in the process.

What you get here is all of those aforementioned flavor and texture qualities, with an added bonus: this recipe is ripe for the riffing. Don’t have candied butter crunch peanuts? Add whatever nuts you love; throw in chocolate chips, candy bits, sprinkles, a drizzle of something on top. The point is that the base of this blondie is so glorious, it makes a great catchall to whatever jingles your bells. But I have to say that this recipe as-is is pretty spectacular–the ultimate sweet-and-salty, totally craveworthy bar cookie that stays moist for days (it only gets better with time after baking!) and is most excellent for shipping, if you’re the type to ship cookies (and if you are, can you please get in touch with me?).

Malted Peanut Butter Crunch Blondies
Makes 16-25 bars, depending on size

I really can’t say enough about malted milk powder–it adds the most fabulous texture and flavor to baked goods of all sorts. Here, it gives these bars their chew and caramelly background note. Look for plain malted milk powder near the tea and coffee in your supermarket, or sometimes near the ice cream toppings, under the brand names Carnation and Horlicks.

Proper baking time is the key getting just the right texture here–just a couple minutes too many makes all the difference between something moist and chewy, and something kinda hard and not so awesome. If in doubt, underbaking them ever-so-slightly is the answer.

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup plain malted milk powder (see note)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (I like Skippy for baking)
1 large egg
1 cup butter crunch or toffee-covered peanuts, coarsely chopped, divided

Position a rack to the center of the oven and preheat it to 350 degrees F. Spray an 8×8-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray and line it with an 8-inch wide strip of foil or parchment paper. Lightly spray the lining, too.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, malted milk powder, baking powder, and salt.

In the bowl of an electric mixer on medium speed, beat together the butter, brown sugar, and vanilla until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add
the egg and beat 1 minute more. Add the peanut butter and beat until smooth. Reduce the mixer speed to low and stir in the dry ingredients until the batter is smooth. Stir in two-thirds of the chopped peanuts. Smooth the batter into the prepared pan (batter will be very thick). Sprinkle on the remaining third of the peanuts.

Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs, 25-28 minutes–do not overbake. Let cool completely in the pan on a wire rack before removing the slab of bars and cutting into squares. Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

Just bizarre enough of a word to require an exclamation point, wouldn’t you say? Like, Eureka! Or Xanadu! (Maybe I’m going solo on always having to say Xanadu nice and loud, but that is neither here nor there.) So what exactly is speculoos (or speculaas) about, anyway? If you’ve been following the food-related internets, you’ve probably seen store-bought versions of speculoos raved about often, whether it be in spread or biscuit form, and some might argue that it’s the best reason for flying certain commercial airlines.

But to me, speculoos have always been one of the most craveworthy cookies out there: buttery, crisp, and perfectly spiced (but not overpoweringly so)  for the holidays with hits of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves. And as it turns out, making your own is dead simple and even better than the factory-made kind. Plus, they sort of cry out to be decorated in a jaunty, Pinterest-y type way, and really, isn’t that what the holidays are all about? (I kid.) (Sort of.)

So as of this past weekend, we are fully in the swing of the holiday season now around this house and it is glorious. We have the tree up, the mantle decorated (my husband managed to only laugh loudly at me and not actually roll his eyes when I explained that the look of this year’s mantle is “Vintage Woodland Winter Wonderland”–he’s a keeper, ladies!), and Buster the Elf has made his way from the North Pole to various posts in our living room a few times already. All we have to do is talk our four-year-old out of this insane affinity she’s developed for getting a “remote control helicopter” this year and we’re all set.

(Sidebar: Little C’s exact quote right after visiting Mall Santa was, “So at first I was nervous, because he asked what I wanted, and I just said ‘a helicopter’. But then Santa said, “A remote control helicopter?”, and then it was okay because I knew he really knows what he’s talking about.” Well, God Bless Us, Every One, then. Lord knows I don’t need to wake up on December 25th with Marine One on my lawn.)

Since we’ve already scratched the surface with a perfectly decadent Gateway Cookie, this is a great next step for this year’s holiday baking adventures. It doesn’t get much easier than a slice-and-bake cookie, topped with the world’s simplest glaze. Plus, these little gems make the perfect canvas for getting some sprinkle action on, which, let’s face it, is what holiday cookie baking is all about. Although aesthetics hardly matter when you’re shoving cookies in your face two at a time.

Dorie Greenspan’s Speculoos Buttons
Adapted from Bon Appetit

Makes 55-60 1 1/2-inch cookies

The yield of the original recipe was 90 cookies, which would have to make for some pretty small buttons, maybe the size of coat buttons? Instead of dividing the dough into thirds, I opted for halving it, and made my cookies a little bigger, though no less adorable. This may have been why I needed more baking time for the finished cookies to come out crisp, (although it was quite a bit longer–7 minutes more), but I can’t be sure–maybe the original recipe didn’t intend for snappy cookies? In any case, I’m writing the baking time below as a wide range–if you stick to the lower end, you’ll end up with cookies that are crisp on the edges, but tender towards the center. The longer baking time makes for the speculoos texture I like, which is uniformly crisp throughout (which also makes the cookies ideal for cookie tins and shipping).

This recipe is fabulously do-ahead because you can make the whole batch in advance, freeze the wrapped dough logs for weeks on end, and then just bake off however many cookies you’d like at a time. I baked one log the first day, and then the second log several days later, and found that the second log was even more flavorful than the first, so that’s a nice bonus.

You can really adjust the amounts of the spices here to suit your tastes–I’m not the world’s hugest ginger fan, so I halved that amount and upped the cinnamon and loved the result.

For the cookies:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons mild-flavored (light) molasses
1 large egg, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg white
Sanding or other decorative sugar

For the glaze:
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
Sprinkles, colored sanding sugar, or dragées (optional)

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and spices. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter on medium speed until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the sugars and molasses. Beat until mixture is smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the egg and vanilla, mixing until smooth. Reduce the mixer speed to low and stir in the dry ingredients, blending well.

Turn the dough out onto a work surface (you may need a light dusting of flour depending on how warm the dough has gotten during mixing). Divide into thirds (or in half, see note). Using your palms, roll each piece of dough into an 8-inch log. Wrap logs tightly in plastic or parchment paper and freeze for at least 3 hours. (Dough can be made up to 2 months ahead and kept frozen.)

When you’re ready to bake, arrange racks in top and bottom thirds of oven and preheat it to 375°F. Line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats (2 baking sheets will do if you’ve only made two dough logs).

Whisk egg white in a small bowl to loosen (a tiny dash of salt will help liquify the egg white). Use a pastry brush to lightly brush the egg white all over 1 log. By either sprinkling or rolling the log in a shallow dish of sanding sugar, completely coat the outside of the log with sugar. Using a thin, sharp knife, slice off a sliver of dough from each end of log to make the ends neat and flat. Cut the log into 1/4 inch-thick rounds. Place the rounds on a baking sheet, spacing 1/2 inch apart (these cookies don’t require much space in between–you should be able to fit an entire dough log’s worth of rounds on 1 sheet). Place the baking sheet in the freezer to keep the dough cold while you repeat the sugaring and slicing process with the remaining dough.

Bake 2 sheets of cookies at a time, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through baking, anywhere from 11 to 18 minutes depending on how crisp you’d like the finished cookies to be (I pull them from the oven when they’re firm to the touch all over; if you’d like a more tender-centered cookie, pull them when they’re mostly firm, but with just a little give in the center). Transfer cookies to wire racks and let cool. Repeat with third sheet of cookies, if you’ve made three dough logs.

When the cookies have cooled, make the glaze: whisk together the powdered sugar and 7 teaspoons cold water in a medium mixing bowl (the glaze will be a like a thick paste–when you pull up the whisk, it will hold its shape for just a moment before the surface becomes smooth again). Dollop a bit on glaze on each cookie with a small spoon, or fill a plastic baggie with the glaze and cut a small hole in 1 corner; pipe glaze in an even circle around edges of cookies, then fill). Decorate with sprinkles, colored sugar, or dragées. Let stand on rack at room temperature for at least 30 minutes for glaze to set. Store airtight at room temperature for up to 5 days.