Try this bread toasted!

I had this delicious bread the other day and wondered if I might be able to recreate it. I tried it last night and it turned out great!  I do like the flavour of Anise  seeds, probably because it reminds me of Christmas baking, enjoyed only once a year.

Cranberry Orange Bread with Anise

Ingredients for 1 loaf

( If I make only one loaf I like to prepare the dough in the bread machine, then transfer it to a regular baking pan and bake it in the oven for better flavour.)

1 cup water

1 1/2 tsp yeast

1/2 cup milk

2 Tbsp sugar

4 cups flour

2 Tbsp butter

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1/4 cup candied orange peel, cut in little squares

1/2 tsp anise seeds, ground in a mortar

Bake at 360F for about 40 minutes, brush top with butter while still hot

You can find a lot of information on how to bake bread on the Baker’s Banter blog.

I Love My New Hat!

After showing you my latest handspun yarn I suddenly realized what the perfect project for it would be: Urchin.  Putting all other projects aside I cast on right away. My yarn is a bit thinner than what the pattern called for so I cast on 30sts for the largest size. I had a lot of fun knitting it: watching the colours change and how interestingly the hat is shaped.

I finished seaming it 10 minutes we were supposed to leave for dinner and I put it on. My kids did not like it at all. They were trying to tell me this in a nice way, which made me laugh. So I decided to freak my kids out a bit and wear the hat in public. Gasp! ( My husband supported me saying that he liked it.)

The heat is a pleasure to wear. It is warm, cozy and does not scratch. When I spun the yarn I thought it was a bit scratchy, but it is not. And the hat makes me feel good. I just love to have a pretty hat that I completely made from scratch, undeyd fibre that is.

I showed it to my friend the other day and she said:”It looks great and you can push all your dreadlocks in there!” Which is so good advice since I have just as many dreadlocks as a vegan has leather shoes! ( Do I have to tell you, that it looked fantastic on her? She has this cute pixie style hair cut…)

Handspun Coopworth

This is a Coopworth roving that I have dyed and spun recently. As a beginner I start each project with the question what I want to learn or improve on. This time I wanted to make a single ply yarn with a low twist and make it fairly even using the long draw method.

So far I have most often worked with top, where all the fibres have been combed and are parallel. In the roving the fibres go in all directions and you can see in the finished yarn, that it has a bit of a halo. As far as my plans went I did quite well with the low twist. When I took the yarn out after setting the twist it was nearly balanced, but as you can see it is not even, not by a long shot. ( I know it is so obvious now, but when the yarn is on the bobbin under tension it looks much more even.  )

I liked the long draw, but I could not figure out what to do when too much fibre was pulled out. ( The long draw is recommended for working with rolags, maybe that is the reason.) A friend suggested spinning from the fold and I’ll try that next time.

Looking at the yarn I have to say I like it a lot. It is about 140 yards and I don’t know yet what I am going to do with it. I am already on the next project…

Happy New Year!

I hope you had a good start in the New Year. For the first time all the kids were up until midnight. They got so used to staying up late, that they are still struggling to get up early in the morning now that school has started again. ( So am I, actually.)

I used the winter break, to organize my studio, read and play Settlers of Catan with my family. I also ate way too much, but it was all so good!

This year I only made one handmade gift and it was for my friend. I used a merino/silk top that I dyed and spun to a bulky 2ply yarn at 2.5 sts/inch. I cast on 22sts and knit in moss-stitch for 58cm ( about 23 inches) added four button holes (over 2 sts) and cast off.

The neckwarmer was 60 cm long and 21 cm (23inch x 8inch) wide when I ran out of yarn. I used 110g (4oz).

When You Just Want to Buy Some Buttons…

you may see several  pretty fabrics. Suddenly you remember* that there is a big empty space on your dining room table and you have to make a table runner for it.

This was so much fun to make! The front (including the border) is a panel and I quilted around the squares to make it look more like a pieced quilt. For the back they had several fabric options, but I chose the striped fabric from the border,  because – as you know – I love stripes. To give the table runner a little loft and make it  heavier I used white flannel as batting, which worked really well.  For the binding I applied this speedy method.

All in all it was very quick: I bought and washed the fabric one day and finished the quilt the following evening.

*I don’t want to mention names here, but somebody ruined the other table runner, by blowing out the candles so forcefully that red candle wax splattered all over it and it was not me! ( But I did drop the coffee mug.)

Let’s Postpone it!

I have decided to celebrate Christmas in January and it seems I am not alone.That is why I can sit back totally relaxed and knit a sock just for myself.
The yarn is my own hand dyed in Salsa and the pattern is the Lacy Ribs Socks ( Ravelry Link) from Socks From the Toe Up. It is fun to knit, but I can’t tell you how many times I forgot a yarn-over at the end of the lace pattern.

So who am I kidding? I am so behind with my Christmas stuff that I am close to panic. I better get back to work! I hope you are doing better than me.

But it does feel good to take a break once in a while and knit a bit. Just don’t tell anyone who is expecting a gift from me this year. OK?

Please Have Some!

I made 2 of these last night and there is something about Irish Soda Bread I find quite irresistible. It is quick and easy to make and tastes heavenly with a bit of butter and jam.

Ingredients for 2 small loaves:

3 1/4 cup flour

2 cups ground oat flakes

1 tsp sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

3 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

2 cups and 4 Tbsp buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 475F. Use a baking stone if you have one and add a roasting pan to the bottom of the oven to make some steam later.

Ground the oat flakes in a blender until you have a mixture of oat flour and oat flakes. It takes just a few seconds. Blend all the dry ingredients together in a bowl and add the buttermilk. Stir until the dough comes together. Divide the dough into two, shape them into a ball, flatten them and push a dough scraper or a knife 2/3 down into the dough to shape a cross.

Bring a cup of water to boil. Slide the 2 loaves onto the hot baking stone using some semolina or cornmeal to prevent it from sticking. ( I prefer semolina because it does not add a different flavour.) Pour the boiling water into the pan on the bottom of your oven and shut the oven door quickly.

Bake for 15 minutes, then lower the temperature to 450F and bake for another 15 minutes.

The Tradition of Celebrating Advent

In Germany it is custom to celebrate Advent, which starts four Sundays before Christmas. This year the first of Advent was last Sunday. On the Sundays of Advent you have a special Kaffeklatsch with a wreath and, most important, Christmas cookies. The wreath has four candles and on every Sunday of Advent you light one more candle. Traditionally the Christmas Tree is set up very close to Christmas Eve and taken down after January 6th, which is the day of the Three Magi.

Many German women are very proud of their cookies. I remember every year there would be a fierce competition between my mother, her sisters and my Grandma who could bake the most different kinds of cookies.  Often a family has its own favourites and “secret” recipes.

I am very lucky that most of my recipes come from my husband’s Grandma who was born in 1908 and a chef in Vienna, Austria. Who knows how old some of these recipes might be?

My new favourite this year is a coffee cookie. My Grandma used to make them when I was a kid, but I never got her recipe. I managed to find one in a magazine and with the help of Starbucks instant coffee they turned out really well.

You need:

100g butter

100g sugar, a dash of salt

1/2 tsp Dr. Oetker Vanilla Sugar or 1/4 tsp Vanilla

2 pck or 1 Tbsp Starbuck’s Instant Coffee ( Italian Roast)

1 Tbsp Cocoa powder

1 Egg

75g ground semi-sweet chocolate

50g ground almonds

150g flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

Beat butter and sugar, add vanilla, salt, coffee, cocoa powder and egg. Mix until well incorporated. In a different bowl mix flour, chocolate, almonds and baking powder. Add these to the butter mix. Let the dough rest in the fridge for about 2 hours. Preheat oven to 350F/ 180C

Shape the dough into small balls or use a small (2 tsp) ice-cream scoop and drop onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Bake for 10 – 12 minutes. Let cool.

Decorate with melted chocolate and top with a whole almond, coffee bean or a coffee-flavoured chocolate bean.

What Happened to Miss Molly?

Miss Molly had a dolly who was sick, sick, sick.
So she called for the doctor to come quick, quick, quick.
The doctor came with his bag and his hat,
And he knocked on the door with a rat-a-tat-tat.

He looked at the dolly and he shook his head.
And he said, “Miss Molly, put her straight to bed.”
He wrote on the paper for a pill, pill, pill.
“I’ll be back in the morning with the bill, bill, bill.”

Well, in the last weeks this Miss Molly had all her children sick at home ( one of them twice) and now she herself needed to go to the Doctor. As some of you might know I have Asthma and if I get a simple cold it acts up and does not want to leave.

Anyway, if you want to make me feel better (hehe) you can sign up for my newsletter by sending me an e-mail to sunnyside(dot)ellen(at)yahoo(dot)com.

Or on Ravelry you could link your yarn to my new shop page and make it look prettier. Instructions how to do this are here.

Thanks a bunch!

How I Made Bleeding Vampire Cupcakes

I found the idea here and used this recipe for the Vanilla Cupcakes. ( Note to self: Next time fill the baking cups only halfway.) The blood on the inside and top was Raspberry Jelly mixed with Raspberry Syrup to make it more liquid. I used this recipe for the icing.

I made them for a Halloween party my kids were invited to where they were supposed to bring a treat. I was a bit disappointed when they came back with half of the cupcakes leftover, but then I realized I should have made a mini version. A kid standing in front of a table filled with sweats  usually wants to try as many different things as he or she can. A large cupcake was probably too much to take on. Well, we live and learn ( and enjoyed the leftovers.)

Happy Halloween!