Wear Your Poppy

Today marks the beginning of Veteran's Week, and if you haven't bought your poppy please get one now. It's not about being pro- or anti-war; it's not about being politically correct. It's not about glorifying war or whitewashing history. It's not about politics.

It's about Remembering. Remembering the horrors war has wrought on the world, and the sacrifices made by all who lived through them. Remembering the soldiers who died for each other, for a cause, for King and country, and for you, regardless of whether you agree with the war or not. Remembering the innocents who died in the millions. And remembering humanity and how close we are to losing it entirely through war.

So please, wear a poppy on your left hand side, close to your heart.

TWD - Sugar Topped Molasses Spice Cookies

This week's TWD is a bit different. Because this month's recipes are so damn good and American Thanksgiving is soon, TWD decided to let people bake out of order. And since I always like messing around with order, that's exactly what I did!

The recipes really ARE good this month, but I wasn't in the mood for something really heavy or time consuming, so I chose these gorgeous molasses cookies. Pamela of Cookies with Boys choose these cookies, and very timely - perfect for these cold, November days. Tia of Buttercream Barbie (love that name!) was kind enough to post the recipe, since it's not technically their week. Good on her! I'm glad to see not everyone is as lazy as I am.

Another reason I went with these cookies is to see how they compare with my mom's. All in all, Dorie's are a standard molasses cookie, which is not an invective, believe me! One thing I do like is her inclusion of black pepper, and if anything I'd use more next time. Taste for taste, they are very close to Mom's, but if I had to choose I'd go with Mom's cookies. Because, you know, she's my MOM. That's the rules.

These cookies are very straightforward. As some people have noted, they do spread out pretty good - definitely don't crowd the pan. And go heavy with the black pepper, it's awesome!

Unfortunately, I had an accident while making them. This one fell into some french vanilla icing, and then it accidentally fell into my mouth, thereby forcing me to eat it (them, let's be honest). Mmmmmmmmmm, happy lies! Can't wait to see what everyone chose. :)

Pumpkin Spice Loaf Cake

I love this time of year. Clear and sunny, cold and crisp air, and the sunlight is just golden everywhere it shines. And the flavours of Fall are my favourite, too; creamy soups, steamy cups of tea, and lovely spicy cakes and cookies.

I wanted to make a nice, easy cake that would suit the weather, and when I stumbled on this recipe I knew it fit the bill. It looks like a quickbread, but trust me - this puppy is a cake. I'm afraid you can't fool yourself into thinking this is anything but dessert. The pumpkin makes it moist without adding any additional flavouring, because the real stars of this show are cinnamon and allspice. And oh lordy, you should smell the place when this cake is baking...it's like living in a gingerbread house! Mmmmmm, edible housing.

It couldn't be simpler to make, either. The whole assembly probably took me about 10 minutes from start to finish. All you do is cream together some butter and sugar, throw in an egg, spicy flour, and pumpkin puree. I was feeling lazy when I made this, so the loaf cake part of it really appealed to me - no arseing around with icing cakes, because it looks just fine without it. I had it with Betty Crocker's French Vanilla icing (I was lazy, I told you), but it would be great with cream cheese icing or even chocolate. Any way you slice it, this cake is just tangible coziness, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

PUMPKIN SPICE LOAF CAKE

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup chopped pecans (optional - I hate nuts)

2 1/2 cups cake flour, sifted

1 tsp cinnamon

3/4 tsp allspice

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup milk

1 cup pumpkin purée, canned or homemade

1. Cream butter and sugar together. Add egg and vanilla, and beat until light and fluffy.

2. In a separate bowl, sift together the cake flour, spices, salt, and baking soda. You really need to sift the cake flour, or it will be lumpy.

3. Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in milk. Add remaining dry ingredients alternately with the pumpkin puree.

4. Pour batter into pan, and bake at 350 degrees for 50 - 60 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool before icing.

NaBloPoMo

Jesus, is it really November already? Time really speeds by when you're sitting at home with a bum foot. Naturally, it's been the best weather of the season. Ah look Melissa, look at how beautiful it is outside. How about we go for a nice walk through the lovely Fall foliage? HA HA PSYCH!

Stupid foot. Anyway, in an effort to post more consistently I've joined the NaBloPoMo, where you are required to post every day for a month. We'll see how that goes....but for now, let's be optimistic! Today I'm simply sitting in a candy-induced semi-coma and periodically eating Pumpkin Spice Cake (recipe tomorrow!). Mmmmmmm. Cake. Cake is always good.