I just made myself rosemary bread rolls and I feel like I traveled to French Provenance or Tuscany

There’s no better way to ride out a quarantine than baking bread.

It’s been years since I updated this blog. I always enjoyed having it as a creative outlet, posting whatever popped into my head and re-blogging allllll the thirsty gifs, and then one day, I stopped. I have no real reason to start again, except that we’re all locked indoors now and for likely months to come, which means I may be seeking a return to the flexing of certain creative muscles. Writing, in whatever way it comes to me. 

Regardless, here I am with a recipe. It’s a long-standing family favourite and one I took to IG Stories to document last night as I whipped it up. And as it solicited so many requests for the recipe, I figured it’s the least I can share with the world at large. Bon app tous le monde! 

Duchess of Windsor

Preheat oven to 350F. Melt together:

• 1 oz unsweetened baking chocolate
• 2 TBSP butter (or margarine)

In a separate bowl, mix together:

• ¾ cups white sugar
• 1 cup sifted flour
• 2 TSP baking powder
• 1/8 TSP salt

Add the chocolate and butter to the dry ingredients above, as well as:

• ½ cup milk
• ½ TSP vanilla

Spread batter into a greased pyrex dish. In a new small bowl, mix together:

• ½ cup white sugar
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 4 tablespoons cocoa

Sprinkle sugar mixture over the batter, making sure the whole thing is covered. Then carefully pour 1 cup cold water over the whole dish.

Bake for 40 minutes. Let rest out of the oven for at least 10 minutes. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream. 

Just a short drabble based on something I read on twitter as well as me getting out my frustrations on Northam for wasting my time this afternoon with an announcement that announced absolutely nothing new.

Leave a comment and enjoy!

He was in the middle of a very pleasant (erotic) dream when he felt it or rather smelled it. Caroline was doing pleasant and inventive things with her tongue, things he couldn’t wait to recreate the moment he woke up. 

Of course, he would only be able to recreate such things if he got enough sleep to gain energy from the things they did today, something which seemed very unlikely to happen since he was about t wake in 3…2…1

“Bloody hell,” he cursed silently as he opened his eyes slightly and reached over to the other side of the bed so he could feel his fiancee, only to find her side of the bed was empty. 

Not unusual given the declaration she had vowed to perfect her task tonight so that she could get used to doing it the exact same way over and over again for the next week.

She was going slightly crazy with the whole self-isolation/quarantine thing, and now that the Virginia Governor, Ralph Northam, has made it an executive order to stay at home unless you were in need of large quantities of food or medical attention in his new live announcement, which Caroline had forced him to watch and essentially led to 20 minutes of Klaus’s life being wasted on an announcement that revealed absolutely nothing – 20 minutes of his life he won’t get back, might he add – he knew she would probably go even crazier.

His fiancee was a student at George Mason University, which had closed campus early on in the pandemic, and an English T.A. at a high school in Fairfax County, which was - along with every other school in Virginia - closed for the remainder of the school year and since she was supposed to work as a T.A. for this semester in her school year online classes weren’t an option for her.

Over the past two weeks, he had seen her entertain herself in the most inventive ways. After all, they could have sex so many times, sadly their human bodies would tire after a few good rounds, she could only clean the house so many times and by this point, he was quite sure she had gotten to every spot at least four times (except his study of course), and taking inventory of their stock was only a three-time occurrence, she needed to be sure, pretty sure, and extra sure before she wrote the official numbers down.

After doing these (admittedly routine) things, he caught her doing something… rare.

She was counting rice form the container of rice that was refilled every couple of months. “I need to make sure we have enough in case we go on lock-down,” she shrugged when he asked what she was doing.

Then he caught her doing self-directed exercise through dance tutorials on TikTok to the beat of the Macarena, “I need to stay fit somehow,” she said as she gasped for breath while throwing punches in the air as the tutorial said to do. 

He would’ve laughed if he hadn’t noticed the determination in her eyes to get the steps right. They had been together for three and a half years, and any time he so much as suggested bringing her along to the gym she laughed in his face.

Afterward, he caught her organizing her coins based on the year they were dated while stuffing her face with small round donuts - which had been admittedly cute since she looked like an adorable child with her face covered in donut powder sugar and her mouth stuffed, “D'you ‘ave any 'oins?” she asked innocently.

It wasn’t until he saw her playing Fortnight under his account (and essentially ruining his winning streak) that he became concerned, and ok maybe he only started to truly pay attention because there was now a record in his account that essentially said he was bested by a 9-year-old kid with the name of 'butcheeks-2010,’ but what was it that the annoying character from that teen show Caroline used to make him watch when they first started dating said?

Ah yes… 'motive is irrelevant as long as our endgame is the same.’

His motive was to get Caroline away from Fortnight, so that night, after a few rounds of vigorous sex, he started thinking, what is something that could keep Caroline Forbes busy?

It needed to combine the four things she loved the most, planning, precision, cleaning and organization.

Suddenly the idea came to him like a tidal wave, baking.

Of course, to just about anyone the mere idea of Caroline baking seemed ridiculous seeing as baking required patience, something she lacked more than he did if possible, not to mention that while Caroline was a rather organized person when it came to everything around her when it came to herself she was rather clumsy and accident-prone, he wouldn’t put it past her to lose a finger, or a hand, or an arm. 

Hell, she could very well be the first person to die solely because of baking.

(Something he was quite sure she wouldn’t mind, she always did love being the first to accomplish something).

But they could start small, there were things that could be microwaved right? Like mug-cakes and stuff, they could also use the small portable oven instead of the big one, at least until he found something more permanent for her to do.

The brief thought of letting her organized his study passed through him, but he shut it down quickly. After last time he wouldn’t risk it again.

It worked for a few days, the baking thing. She enjoyed measuring things and her face lit up when they came out exactly as they did in the picture. He had even tasted some of them and he had to say, she was quite good at baking small things.

As he forces himself awake, however, and continues to smell something burnt he realizes that she might’ve bitten off more than she could chew when she announced she would be baking a 'practice cake’ to prepare for his birthday next week, never let it be said that Caroline Forbes-soon-to-be-Forbes-Mikaelson isn’t thorough.

He rushed downstairs rubbing his eyes to force himself awake and attentive, and as expected is greeted with an angry Caroline who clearly didn’t have things go as planned.

“What happened, love?” he asked soothingly.

“I burned the cake!” she cried, “It’s the third one I made and I seem to continue to get worse t it every time. The first time it didn’t elevate.”

“Well I did tell you to use baking powder instead of baking soda,” he reminded her, which simply earned him a glare.

“Now is not the time to play smug Mikaelson,” she glared at him, “The second time the cake stuck to the pan.”

“Did you put in the oil I told you?” and she once again gave him a glare that would send the devil himself running back to hell.

“I will cut you, Klaus,” she seethed, he took that as a yes.

“What happened the third time?” he asked.

She exasperated and his heart clenched as tears of frustration formed in her eyes, “It didn’t elevate enough so I thought, "why not leave it no for 10 more minutes,” and so I left it on for 10 more minutes cuz I thought “maybe it will elevate,” and I had this whole image on my head of how it would look and how I’d decorated and,“

"Caroline, sweetheart, as much as I love your rambling I am seconds away from dropping to the floor from exhaustion so please, my love, get to the point,” he interrupted.

“Fine,” she sniffled, wiping her eyes, “well I as I said I left it in for longer and when I opened the oven to take it out there was a bunch of smoke and as you can see, the cake is almost black.”

Indeed it was black, but that was just the top, maybe the rest of the cake was eatable, he instantly grabbed a fork that was drying in the rack and pinched into the cake, taking out form withing to see it perfectly fluffy and, as he suspected, perfectly eatable He took I bite and moaned, “This is good,” he said with his mouth full and he could see Caroline was restraining from scolding him for talking in such a way.

“Really?” she asked, a grin forming on her loving face and he nodded enthusiastically, she squealed sound and started doing her happy dance, “Yay! I am going to make another one with the same recipe.”

“Sweetheart, why don’t you take a break, let’s go back to bed and you can continue tomorrow,” he offered, already dragging her back, but she pulled out of his grasp.

“Klaus,” she said sternly, “Your birthday is in less than a week, you can’t just expect me to stop practicing my cake-making skill now that I’ve half perfect the,” she went to grab her phone and started typing, “I have to figure out where I went wrong and how to not burn the cake,” she started grabbing all the containers that she needed which he had probably cleaned as she waited for the cake to bake, as well as ingredients from the fridge and the cabinet. 

“I will not rest until this cake is perfect, and then once it is I will do three others that will turn out even more perfect. Maybe I’ll even make another one and make your cake two tiers, oh!” she looked up briefly in realization before starting yo once again type furiously on her phone, “And I haven’t even begun to practice making the frosting!”

As she enthusiastically and tirelessly planned how to take over the cake world, he lazily walked to the couch and covered himself with one of the blankets. He had decided he would sleep there, after all, if the house burnt down he had no doubt that Caroline would need someone to help her carry the cakes out.

i just made lemon shortbread cookies! i’ll reblog the recipe i used. i was supposed to put thyme in them, but with my family of picky eaters i was pushing it with lemon flavor, lol. star shaped for extra cuteness!! i love that i’ve been able to bake so much, it relives stress in these uncertain times. i’m looking forward to eating these with my tea!

Thinking about baking something, I always feel connected to my craft when I’m being creative in some way. I’ll be around message me if any of you need anything!

1 tablespoon sugar? That’s optional

My first sourdough starter, day 3, before feeding. It smells TERRIBLE. Is it supposed to smell terrible? Like rotting puke that’s been strained through particularly rank socks.

I have begun two starters for bread since yeast is out of stock. It’s been a long while since I’ve had a kitchen decent enough to actually bake in so it’s been an even longer while since I’ve made one of these. Let’s hope I don’t screw it up.

Luckily, I have friends who are willing to barter. Yeast packets for CBD packets … just in case.

Something of a fail. A bit cake-y and not cookie like.

It’s the post you’ve all been waiting for….

MERINGUES!

Above we have pictures of the entire process (including my beautiful vintage 1950s Sunbeam standing mixer that I thrifted with all the original attachments & bowls for $70) as well as the bags of the finished product. Note that these bags represent 2/3 of what I made. Those ones are bagged for The Spawn & The Bestie, while the remaining 1/3 is for me & dad (although he has already eaten a significant amount of them). They are not terribly pretty because I don’t have a piping bag or piping bag attachments, so I used a measuring spoon to plop them onto the pan.

Flavors & how they were achieved:

° Blue Vanilla- literally just vanilla extract & blue gel food coloring

° Mint Chocolate Chip- mint extract, green gel food coloring, a bit of baking cocoa powder, & semisweet baking chocolate shavings that were folded in just before they were put on the pan

° Cinnamon Vanilla- vanilla extract, ground cinnamon, & red gel food coloring

° Double Chocolate Chip- vanilla, baking cocoa powder, & semisweet baking chocolate shavings that were folded in just before going on the pan.

If you have the desire to attempt french meringues, I’d be happy to share pictures of my recipe (although I really recommend having a standing mixer to do this, it can be done with an electric hand mixer, patience, & brute strength).

Deviled Chicken Quesadilla

• 3 fluid oz. (UK) dates
• 10 teaspoons pear
• 8 tablespoons moose
• 0.75 cake pans carrots
• 7 pinches duck
• 8 bushels brandy
• 2.5 teaspoons ice cream
• 1.25 smidgens bread

Add pear, saute for 1 minute; then add duck and cook for 7 to 8 minutes on each side. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for about 20 minutes, or until reduced by half. In a bowl, sift together the brandy and carrots. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until bubbles appear on the sides and center of each moose. Sift together bread and dates. Garnish with ice cream.